Last night, Dr. Deepak Chopra, physician, author of 55 books and a global figure in the alternative healing space, spoke to Inc. Magazine's Business Owners Council. The event was sponsored by Rothstein Kass and was held in Morgan Stanley headquarters in Time Square.

The topic was based on his new book, The Soul of Leadership, which is derived from his executive training program at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. In it, he describes a "pure leadership" which is based first on a call or a need coming from followers and then from a leader standing up to address that need. History has shown us many great leaders from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Mandela, says Chopra. Each served an essential need of their followers.

In our business lives, we have the opportunity to serve, too. Whether it's our employees, our clients or the larger community. Dr. Chopra outlines a form of serving that is based on not power or management, so much as being the pure leader our followers are looking for. His method of leadership is focuses less on strategizing or putting on a role and more on finding the truest way we can serve others and then just "doing". He points out that Ghandi and Mother Theresa didn't organize or seek to grow big--they simply served their followers.

For each of us, there's a way we can serve and from that service, we can create loyalty and become productive. I know many of our members were thrilled to have a chance to hear this from Dr. Chopra. His book, The Soul of Leadership, is a great way to start 2011 off right. With a fresh view towards our own personal development and a path towards growth that achieves all our goals.

Many thanks to the team at Rothstein Kass, including Tom Angell and to Mitchell Rock and Oscar Cantu of The Rock Group.